Autoimmune Disease

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

The concept that your body could attack itself is one that might seem difficult to appreciate, but there seems to be an increase in the conditions classified as Autoimmune Disease or Disorder. In fact, over the past 25 years, there have been more than 130 different Autoimmune Diseases classified and that number is climbing every year. That in itself seems like we need to begin understanding “Why?” this is occurring. And since one of my practice members asked about this specifically, I'd like to help you appreciate how an Autoimmune Disorder begins and why there would be an increase in these conditions.

I hope this information will educate you so that you may avoid them yourself, and that you will forward this information to any and all of your friends and loved ones who may be suffering from these disorders as well. After all, understanding is the key to prevention.

The Traditional Medical Perspective

What Are Autoimmune Disorders?

Autoimmune Disorders are defined as "Disorders in which the Immune System produces auto-antibodies to an endogenous antigen, with consequent injury to tissues." In simple terms, the body attacks itself. These Immune System disorders cause abnormally low activity or over activity of the Immune System. In cases of Immune System over activity, the body attacks and damages its own tissues (Autoimmune Diseases).

In response to an unknown trigger, the Immune System may begin producing antibodies that instead of fighting infections, attack the body's own tissues.

Treatment for Autoimmune Diseases generally focuses on reducing or suppressing Immune System activity.

Examples of Autoimmune Diseases include:

Rheumatoid arthritis. The Immune System produces antibodies that attach to the linings of joints. Immune system cells then attack the joints, causing inflammation, swelling, and pain. If untreated, rheumatoid arthritis causes gradually causes permanent joint damage. Treatments for rheumatoid arthritis can include various oral or injectable medications that reduce immune system over activity.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). People with lupus develop autoimmune antibodies that can attach to tissues throughout the body. The joints, lungs, blood cells, nerves, and kidneys are commonly affected in lupus. Treatment often requires daily oral prednisone, a steroid that reduces immune system function.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The Immune System attacks the lining of the intestines, causing episodes of diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgent bowel movements, abdominal pain, fever, and weight loss. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are the two major forms of IBD. Oral and injected immune-suppressing medicines can treat IBD.

Multiple sclerosis (MS). The Immune System attacks nerve cells, causing symptoms that can include pain, blindness, weakness, poor coordination, and muscle spasms. Various medicines that suppress the immune system can be used to treat multiple sclerosis.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Immune System antibodies attack and destroy insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. By young adulthood, people with type 1 diabetes require insulin injections to survive.

Guillain-Barre syndrome. The Immune System attacks the nerves controlling muscles in the legs and sometimes the arms and upper body. Weakness results, which can sometimes be severe. Filtering the blood with a procedure called plasmapheresis is the main treatment for Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. Similar to Guillian-Barre, the immune system also attacks the nerves in CIDP, but symptoms last much longer. About 30% of patients can become confined to a wheelchair if not diagnosed and treated early. Treatment for CIDP and GBS are essentially the same.

Psoriasis. In psoriasis, overactive Immune System blood cells called T-cells collect in the skin. The Immune System activity stimulates skin cells to reproduce rapidly, producing silvery, scaly plaques on the skin.

Graves' disease. The Immune System produces antibodies that stimulate the thyroid gland to release excess amounts of thyroid hormone into the blood (hyperthyroidism). Symptoms of Graves' disease can include bulging eyes as well as weight loss, nervousness, irritability, rapid heart rate, weakness, and brittle hair. Destruction or removal of the thyroid gland, using medicines or surgery, is usually required to treat Graves' disease.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Antibodies produced by the Immune System attack the thyroid gland, slowly destroying the cells that produce thyroid hormone. Low levels of thyroid hormone develop (hypothyroidism), usually over months to years. Symptoms include fatigue, constipation, weight gain, depression, dry skin, and sensitivity to cold. Taking a daily oral synthetic thyroid hormone pill will look to restore normal body functions.

Myasthenia gravis. Antibodies bind to nerves and make them unable to stimulate muscles properly. Weakness that gets worse with activity is the main symptom of myasthenia gravis. Mestinon (pyridostigmine) is the main medicine used to treat myasthenia gravis.

Vasculitis. The Immune System attacks and damages blood vessels in this group of Autoimmune Diseases. Vasculitis can affect any organ, so symptoms vary widely and can occur almost anywhere in the body. Treatment includes reducing Immune System activity, usually with prednisone or another corticosteroid.

Dr. Huntoon's Alternative Medical Treatment Options

Why would the Immune System Attack The Body?

Why, all of a sudden would your defense system begin to not recognize the cells of the blood, or other tissues such as the Spleen or Liver?

Through one of my mentors, I have come to understand Autoimmune Disease as an indication that the person's body is "allergic" to a component within theirown body. In other words, the Immune System doesn't recognize a component within the body as being part of the body, but instead sees it as a foreign invader, and hence attacks the invader wherever it goes. In ANY case of Autoimmune Disease, that could be anywhere in the body. What this will eventually lead to is multiple organ failure.

If you understand how the Immune System functions and develops its memory, the answer is not that difficult to comprehend. It goes all the way back to proper nutrition and digestion. And it becomes a problem for someone with the help of taking different medications that alter normal Immune Recognition, genetic pre-disposition I'm sure, with life-style choices playing a factor too. Consider the Digestive System Disruptors and the Leaky Gut Syndrome that results.

Studying the information presented by and lectured about from the most famous and foremost authority on nutrition and disease of his time, Dr. Royal Lee, recognized way back in the 1940's these Autoimmune Disorders as nutritional deficiency diseases. He discovered that when a person becomes deficient in essential nutrients (from a diet high in refined, man-made foods and foods high in sugar), the body would have a hard time healing. And this makes sense to even the uneducated.

So What Happens Next?

If the body cannot heal itself, things will start to age, degenerate and eventually de-differentiate, meaning the cells will mutate and change form. With regards to the different organs, glands, tissues, etc., this means they will each begin to malfunction. And if not healing properly, the outer protective layer of the organ(s)/gland(s) starts to weaken and eventually it will break.

What results from this is it will cause whole proteins from that organ to freely leak into the blood stream. This is something that should never happen.

Then when the Immune System sees those free proteins, it recognizes them as being foreign. And because the whole protein molecules should not be circulating within the bloodstream (only Amino Acids derived from the proteins we eat), the Immune System begins creating specific antibodies to those proteins and begins attacking them as they leak from the organ. This is Autoimmune Disease. As mentioned above, SLE is an immune response to a component within the person’s blood. And because the blood circulates through every organ, it eventually leads to immune responses that affect all the organs.

So to simplify this condition of the Immune System attacking the body (aka Autoimmune Disease), if you are dealing with an Autoimmune Disease, know that the organ or gland associated with the disease you have is leaking its own proteins and your Immune System is doing its job of protecting you from these"foreign" proteins. The result of this is Autoimmune Disease. Whatever the name you have been given, this is the mechanism for your condition.

5 Underlying Causes of Autoimmune Disease

Leaky Gut

The gut is the gateway to health, it houses 80% of your Immune System, and you can’t have a healthy Immune System without a healthy gut. Thanks to research from Alessio Fassano, which I’ve confirmed it in the office, we now know that if you have an Autoimmune Disease your gut has become leaky, meaning the tight junctions that typically hold your gut lining together have become loose, allowing undigested food particles, microbes, toxins, and more to escape your gut and enter your bloodstream.

All of these particles are recognized by your Immune System as foreign invaders, sending your Immune System into high alert and triggering a huge rise in inflammation. This continual strain on your Immune System eventually causes it to go haywire, and it ends up attacking your own tissues by mistake.

Gluten

Gluten contributes to autoimmune disease in three key ways. First, it is the primary cause of leaky gut because gluten triggers the release of zonulin in your intestines, a chemical that tells your gut lining to “open up”. Second, it is highly inflammatory, meaning it stresses your immune system. Thirdly, the gluten protein has a similar chemical structure to some of your body’s tissues (specifically your thyroid), which can lead to molecular mimicry, where your body mistakes your tissues for gluten and attacks them.

Toxins

Toxic molds (mycotoxins) and heavy metals such as mercury are the two main toxins I see in those I see with Autoimmune conditions. Mycotoxins are very volatile compounds produced by toxic molds that wreak havoc on the immune system.

We are exposed to heavy metals like mercury in different ways: mercury amalgam fillings in teeth, fish consumption, and the environment. Mercury is toxic to our bodies and can be one piece of the puzzle for those with autoimmune diseases.

Infections

Scientists have long suspected that infections from bacteria, viruses, and other toxins were likely to blame for the development of autoimmunity. There are now a number of infections, including Epstein Barr (the virus that causes mono), Herpes Simplex 1 and 2, E. coli, that have been linked to Autoimmune Diseases.

Stress

Levels of stress-related illnesses are on the rise, and stress, both of the emotional and the physical variety, has been shown to trigger and intensify autoimmune disorders. Stress disrupts Immune function through several distinct pathways. Stress is the body’s response to a threat–a wound, injury, or infection. Chronic stress (the kind we face in this day and age) leads to long term inflammation that never really shuts off, creating Autoimmune Disease. Once the autoimmune response is in place, immediate stress only exacerbates it.

Your Solution

So What Can a Body Do?

That's where Dr. Royal Lee was a true pioneer. As a nutritional specialist, he developed whole food supplement products that would allow the body to focus on a special part of the ingredients of that supplement, while the balance of the ingredients would go toward repairing the organ(s) or gland(s) and stop the leaking of proteins. The special ingredient he termed Protomorphogen's or PMG for short. As an ingredient within the supplement, it acts as a counter measure designed to take the focus off the organ and direct it at itself. This causes the Immune Cells that would attack the organ or gland to attack the ingredients in the supplement. While this is occurring, the rest of the ingredients go towards repairing the organ or gland affected and the balance of health can begin to be restored. That is why Dr. Lee was such a visionary. He figured this out way back in the 1940's. And his company has developed 22 different PMG's, one for each organ or gland that are designed specifically to help that organ/gland heal, thus allowing for the Autoimmune response to stop and the body to go back to a healthy balance.

Your Solution

Our Approach To Healing Autoimmune Disease

Heal your gut.

Healing your Gut is essential to healing yourself. After all, 80% of your Immune System lies in your gut! We use the 4 R Approach to healing the Gut and eliminating Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Remove gluten, grain, and legumes from your diet.

For my patients with Autoimmune Diseases, I highly recommend removing not only gluten but all grains and legumes from their diet. These foods contain proteins known as lectins, which act as a natural pesticide for crops and can wreak havoc on the lining of your gut creating Leaky Gut Syndrome. Changing your diet is the first step in getting well.

Test for heavy metals and mycotoxins.

If you are going to get involved in remedying your Autoimmune Disease, you may choose to have the testing done through your Medical Doctor. These tests can be expensive and you would want them covered under your Health Insurance if possible. I recommend having your MTHFR genes tested and doing a DMPS chelation challenge test through a Functional Medical Practitioner who can order those tests to determine if mercury or other heavy metals are an issue for you. Real Time Lab has the test for assessing if someone is being exposed to mycotoxins. I also recommend that all my Practice Members find a Wholistic Dentist to remove their mercury amalgam fillings if this is an issue.

We can and do all of these tests in the office using Manual Muscle Testing and we offer true solutions to Heavy Metals and mycotoxins, and have for years.

Find and treat infections.

There are a number of bacterial and viral infections that have been associated with Autoimmune conditions. Have your Medical Doctor test for infections such as HSV and EBV.

We have a solution to both of these viruses, again, after you have seen your Medical Doctor for blood tests to confirm you have these concerns. Monolaurin from coconut oil can be very effective treatment for both HSV and EBV. Lysine and a lysine-rich diet is effective at treating HSV infections.

Manage your stress.

I tell all my Practice Members that they should prioritize stress reduction. Take care of yourself by adopting some stress-relieving strategies, such as exercise, meditation and art. If you are having trouble relaxing, try a yoga class or a guided meditation. Even giving yourself five minutes to sit quietly with a fragrant cup of herbal tea (caffeine-free, of course!) can help tremendously.

Our approach is based on getting to the root of the problem: removing the elements that derailed your Immune System in the first place and strengthening your Immune System rather than suppressing it. That’s why using this approach enables you to reverse and prevent many different Autoimmune conditions at once.

What This Means To You

If you, or a loved one suffers with any Autoimmune or related conditions such as Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, etc. you should take notice that there is hope for you that won't require you to take Prednisone or some other sort of medication/steroid for the rest of your life. You won't have to have organs surgically replaced or die of organ failure at an age much younger then you'd like. There is hope for you and there are treatments available here at Advanced Alternative Medicine Center to fix these imbalances and restore health to your body. Part of the treatment consisting of the good high quality whole food supplements that we carry in the office. And since they've been using the same manufacturing process for the better part of 88 years, you know the quality is superior and the technology is sound.

Dr. Huntoon has been successfully eliminating Autoimmune Disease for over 27 years. Applying the understanding just given with specific treatment unique to each person presenting with Autoimmune Disease, versus the one size-fits-all mentality offered in Traditional Allopathic Medical Care seems to make all the difference between treating this condition for life versus remedying it once and for all. Consider that when considering care for your or your family members Autoimmune Disease.

What do you have to lose? Honestly, nothing.

A better question is, "What do you have to gain?"

That would be, your life back and all the joy that goes with it.

Call Dr. Huntoon at 845-561-2225 and discuss how he will fully resolve your autoimmune system problem like he has with hundreds of other people for over 27 years.